Next week I am travelling to New Zealand for the 2013 Kea Inspire Day series. This year is going to be bigger and better than ever, with a world class line-up of presenters from home and abroad delivering inspiring stories, in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. This year I am speaking alongside a contingent of Kiwi Landing Pad companies, giving our insights into living and working in the USA. The theme for this year is “From Surviving to Thriving”. We will be sharing key insights for doing business in the USA – breaking down myths and stereotypes, and strategies to help you win in the highly competitive San Francisco Bay Area tech scene.

My story starts with an awkward cup of coffee. And a simple but important lesson for successfully doing business in the USA and globally – overlooked by many New Zealand companies who arrive in the USA. Come along and be inspired by our real stories and hard-won learnings that will help you transform your business from staying afloat to thriving in the most competitive technology marketplace on the planet.

Inspire Days starts in Christchurch on Monday May 20 and I will be joined by CEO + Founder of BIMstop, Scott Barrington. Scott is an early alumni of the KLP Catapult progam 10 months ago. Click here for ticket info.

Tuesday May 21 we will be in Wellington. I will be joined by Chris Smith, CEO+ Founder of STQRY. Chris is a regular visitor to the Kiwi Landing Pad when he comes to San Francisco.  For tickets to Inspire Wellington, please contact Grow Wellington here.

Auckland on May 22 I will be joined by Paul Cameron,  CEO + Co-founder of BookTrack, and entrepreneur Olly Johnston who recently returned from a 3 months at Kiwi Landing Pad. Click here for ticket info.

The post USA Lattes and Kea Inspire Days appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Me networking

Guest Post from Olly Johnston CEO + Founder Dropscotch. Olly will be sharing his story at Kea Inspire Days in Auckland on May 22.

I am an entrepreneur, I am 18 years old and I am from Taupo. I’m coming to the end of what has been an incredible 3 months. I arrived here in San Francisco with an idea for a business that was inspired by sitting in my parents cafe Replete near the shores of Lake Taupo. I was very fortunate to have been given a hand up by  Gower Smith. Gower is a San Francisco based Kiwi entrepreneur who founded Zoom Systems. Cat, John (KLP) and Gower supported, mentored, inspired and guided me. Being surrounded and supported by these three entrepreneurs was truly an incredible experience.

It turns out my idea wouldn’t have been the next big thing – but in order to understand that, I needed to spend some on the ground here in the heart of where it is all happening.Within 3 weeks of arriving here,  I was speaking to some key and very influential people in the tech industry. After pitching my idea I realised I was getting a lot more negative feedback than good. I took it all on board and after a 3 hour talk with my Albuquerque, New Mexico based co-founder we took our idea and tweaked it  into something completely different. Still in the same space, but now we have a unique value proposition that we believe stands a real chance of being the next big thing.

Me and John Holt heading out on the 101

Over the 3 months I have spent in San Francisco I have had an incredible time. Meeting all different types of influential people whether they be Angel Investors,VC’s, CEO’s of huge companies or fellow entrepreneurs. I have taken trips to HP and to Facebook HQ, attended numerous networking events, eaten exquisite food and joined the KLP team at All Star Donuts for THE best corndogs. I have visited amazing museums like Moma and the Science Academy, I went to concerts and music festivals. But most of all I worked on the fundamentals for Dropscotch at my desk in Soma at the Kiwi Landing Pad .

I’m getting ready to head home now I can focus on the next steps and impending launch of Dropscotch. My eyes have opened to the realities of doing an IT startup and I strongly encourage anyone in a similar stage as me to think hard about coming over here. I will be speaking at Kea Inspire Days in Auckland on May 22 and would be happy to share my experiences with any of you who might be interested.

However none of this would’ve been possible without the initial  support from Gower Smith and of course my parents. They backed me 100% to just go out there and make it happen.

The post My 3 month crash course in San Francisco appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Phil McCaw and Mark Vivian from Movac engrossed during pitching event

Phil McCaw is Managing Partner of Wellington based investment firm Movac. Movac invests in New Zealand based companies with potential for rapid and large scale growth. Investment is a key piece of the start up ecosystem and this week San Francisco hosted the Angel Capital Association (ACA) Summit. The angels in town meant an influx of entrepreneurs, investors, advisors and 1above water bottles at Kiwi Landing Pad. Conversations around KLP revolved around deal flow, customer acquisition strategies, demand generation, value propositions, pitching and exit strategies.

Movac’s most notable investment to date has been TradeMe and as the New Zealand high tech community has grown and evolved, so too Movac have evolved to meet and understand the demands and challenges for start up companies. This includes both raising funding and accessing the resources and people that can help companies succeed. One such resource that Movac sponsors is the Kiwi Landing Pad along with a group of other New Zealand and US  investors and New Zealand’s Ministry of Business and Innovation.

Phil is a very experienced investor and advisor to a number of companies. Phil sat down with Kiwi Landing Pad and broke down how he got started as an investor, he talks through some of the investment Movac have made and why they sponsor the Kiwi Landing Pad. Phil talks about how Kiwi Landing Pad is beginning to have a tangible impact on New Zealand’s investment and technology scene through providing an environment where companies can find their feet and step out into a trusted, curated local community of advisors and experts.

The post From the Angel Fest – Phil McCaw talks Movac, Trademe and KLP appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

367 Addison Road Palo Alto – the humble garage where HP began and is the site officially recognized as the birthplace of Silicon Valley

Guest Post from Kiwi Landing Pad founder and entrepreneur John Holt.

I’ve worked for several large multinational companies during my career but none of those experiences were as impactful as my time at Hewlett Packard. Recently, we got the opportunity (thanks Duane!) to visit Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s original corporate office suite. I was just as excited to be there again as I was during my first visit nearly 15 years ago. It was great to take the KLP team there and add the visit to our “roadie” of iconic and influential companies and locations in Silicon Valley. Bill and Dave’s original office was a garage – barely room for a modern car and located in a a suburban street not far from the centre of Palo Alto City. Unremarkable physically but recognised as the official birthplace of “Silicon Valley”.

HP Labs built in the 1960′s is where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard worked everyday until they retired.

Having visited the offices and the HP Garage again several thoughts come to mind that are just as relevant today as they were at the inception of HP in 1939. The HP founders were engineers by training and entrepreneurs by nature – smart, resilient and determined. These qualities added to their devout respect of people which laid the platform to create a multinational successful business that people wanted to work for.

Their business “manual” published as “The HP Way” was more than just a company edict – it was the way that business and management was conducted at HP everyday. One of my most memorable sayings from this was their belief that people inherently come to work to do a good job and will do so if they are given the right resources and treated with respect. It never ceases to amaze me how impactful a visit is for even for those who have limited knowledge of the HP story.

• People with focus, determination and a devout culture of inspiring people and treating them well, will build successful and enduring companies.

• Innovation and the ability to innovate is not in isolation likely to build a great business. Sales and managing talent around innovation to deliver it to the market with a scalable business model is critical.

The HP story is inspiring historically but it also serves as a compelling motivation to me as an entrepreneur to build something from nothing. The company certainly faces its fair share of challenges currently but even having spent a small amount of time back on site you can still feel the HP spirit and the founders original influence which will almost certainly help them overcome those.

Bill Hewlett’s office left exactly as it was the day he left.

If you want to check out the Birthplace of Silicon Valley for yourself, it is located in Palo Alto. you can stop by the HP Garage anytime – 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto. Visits to Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s offices at HP Labs are by appointment only. It is still home to their largest research centre and visit’s need to be arranged.

Thanks again to the HP team for allowing us to stop by.

The post The Birthplace of Silicon Valley appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

For a bit of background, I’m Janet, a kiwi who has been living in Melbourne the last four years, working as a Mobile Producer developing iOS and Android apps. As a bit of a tech nerd, I have always had a desire to come to San Francisco and explore Silicon Valley and discover the tech scene and vibe for myself.

I wasn’t disappointed. Walking down the street, on the Bart, at the cafes or a bar between trivia questions; the small talk is tech talk. The best small talk ever.

Arriving into San Francisco and going straight to The Kiwi Landing Pad to be welcomed by the kiwi accent made this place feel like a home away from home. And they understood every word I said which was refreshing. Catherine and the team have the down low on the best coffee spots in the area, affordable accommodation -and where the celebrities are hanging out (we talked sweet chili sauce with Jared from Subway!). Having a base here has made such a positive difference and has given me the security I wanted arriving into a new city.

The office is located in the hub of the tech action and is close to public transport and the centre of San Francisco. I’m working on a small business idea while I’m here, but I’ve also been using this opportunity to pursue job applications and meet with companies who inspire me. I would encourage you to contact as many of the tech companies you want to meet while you’re here. Sometimes it comes down to being in the right place at the right time, but it’s worth making contact, as they’re often open to meeting up for a chat. Meeting the people who are building the tech you use and love has been pretty inspiring.

I cannot recommend it highly enough. Come to San Francisco and get a taste for where the real tech development happens. Spend your down time talking tech ideas with like minded locals and co-working colleagues. If you’re into tech and you want to get into the action, San Francisco is where you’ll live your dream.

The post Discovering the vibrant tech scene for myself appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Biomatters CTO Matt Landry and Chris Duran

Walk into the research labs in any of the top 25 universities across the globe and you’ll find their Molecular Biologists working with software designed by Kiwis.

Biomatters CTO Matthew Landry describes their primary product line Geneious as sort of Microsoft Office for Molecular Biologists. A broad set of computational tools that a Scientist can use for data management, visualisation, presentation, and image generation.

Their software’s heavy R&D application, means that Biomatters has a huge presence in academia. The San Francisco Bay area is a prime example of that, with Biologists at top Universities UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UC Santa Cruz, all using the software designed in Auckland, New Zealand.

While Biomatters’ ten year strong Geneious product line is what they’re is best known for, Matthew was excited to update us on their latest product offering. A kind of App Store for Bioinformatics has just been launched, and Biomatters is one of the earliest software companies to develop  a new cloud based product line available through the store – the Molecular Profiler (currently in Beta).

With new products and exciting indications of the app store model leading the way forward in their industry, Biomatters is growing. One of the reasons that Matthew has been over in San Francisco is that the company is investigating the possibility of a second development team stateside. San Francisco is not only home to a large number of customers at top Bay Area universities and companies, it’s also the spot to find the very best developer talent in the world.

Biomatters already has a regional virtual sales office operating out of San Francisco, and when in town, CTO Matthew and CEO Brett enjoy being able to get the most out of their time by having a base at the Kiwi Landing Pad. With growth in mind, and the convenience of a direct flight from Auckland, San Francisco is shaping up to be an ideal U.S. location for Biomatters to develop even more indispensable tools for labs and research centres all over the globe.

The post KLP Resident Profile : Biomatters appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Eventfinda COO Andrew Somervell

In just under a year, Eventfinda’s COO Andrew Somervell and Founder Michael Turner, have been paving the way for the Kiwi event website to start to replicating their success in the much bigger US market.

The first three to six months in the US were a necessary learning curve for the company. Where they have been recalibrating their strategy for how best to do business stateside. Culturally, they have found that very different to New Zealand where they can call up a friend, or talk directly to an industry contact. In SF, they have been putting in the hours, and getting out there three to four nights a week to network and make those vital industry connections.

Using the Kiwi Landing Pad as a San Francisco base, they have found the Kiwi community a massive help in learning some of those cultural codes and American ways of doing business. The majority of their time though, has been spent out on the road. “Anywhere from Houston, to New York, to down the Peninsula” says Andrew.

Their primary focus has been meeting and getting the ball rolling on creating potential partnerships. As Andrew mentioned, one of the challenges over here in the US compared to New Zealand is the long lead times. However, when the deal does come through, it can be worth ten to a hundred times more than its NZ equivalent.

Now that they’ve done those initial hard yards, how is 2013 looking for Eventfinda in the US? In the next year they’re looking to innovate and improve their product, scale their operation, and forgo some of that humble Kiwi attitude to get out there and promote themselves.

“While you can humbly go along and do things on a shoestring, everyone else is getting a million consumers downloading their app because they’ve made a song and dance as the next cool thing on Tech Crunch.” reiterates Andrew.

The post KLP Resident Profile : Eventfinda appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

KLP’s Catherine Robinson and NZTE’s John Bryan

NZTE Business Development Manager for the San Francisco Bay Area, John Bryan, helps Kiwi companies moving to the USA’s start-up mecca. From his desk space at the Kiwi Landing Pad in San Francisco, John is able to meet New Zealand grown companies and identify ways in which he can help them to succeed in the US.

After working with many New Zealand companies through his role at NZTE, we were curious as to the observations John has made, and in particular, areas in which he thinks Kiwi tech companies could improve on to further boost their transition to the United States.

One of the key things that John would like to see companies doing while still in New Zealand, is to start thinking beyond our coastal borders, right from the get go. He stresses the importance of building that overseas market growth potential in, even from the very early stages:

“Often times you’ve made decisions about the product and your feature set based on the needs of the local market and that may not translate into the US.” says John.

John is excited by the innovative ideas he has come across in New Zealand, but would like to see companies pay more attention to making sure that their business strategy is just as solid.

“Where I often see the breakdown is on the business side of that. When we get to – What are the business fundamentals? What’s your market strategy? Have you done the competitive analysis?” he added.

In order to ensure New Zealand based tech companies understand what is required to succeed in the US market, John is eager to forge relationships with the companies as early as possible.

He also reiterates the important role that the Kiwi Landing Pad plays in giving Kiwi companies early first hand experience in the US through the Catapult program. Then later when ready to enter the US market, by taking away the usual barriers and allowing the companies to return as residents of the Landing Pad.

Overall John is enthusiastic about the role that New Zealand tech companies stand to play on a global level:

“I think we can have a steady stream of interesting, cool companies coming out of New Zealand that are doing things that aren’t being done anywhere else in the world.”

The post KLP Resident Profile : NZTE appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

People in the Valley measure you on what you do and not what your title says according to Bowen Pan. Bowen is one of only 400 first year MBA students at Stanford University. Stanford’s MBA program is considered one of the most prestigious post graduate programs in the world – especially amongst the tech community. The Graduate School of Business provides access to the top thinkers, entrepreneurs and investors from the all over the world and Bowen’s classmates include several successful entrepreneurs who have built and sold high profile IT companies.

Bowen grew up in Auckland and has a Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of  Property from Auckland University.  Bowen worked at  Trademe in Wellington on Strategy and New Ventures. He was also one of the founders of Treat Me. He is passionate about helping kiwi’s who are coming to the SF Bay Area and shares some great advice in this 60 second video shot during a lunch time meeting at Stanford. If you are wondering about all the cheering and noise in the background – it was a very rowdy group of recent graduates celebrating their reunion at Stanford.

The post Come to the Valley and be confident appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Like many New Zealanders that hop around the globe, San Francisco was not Kate McLeod’s first stop overseas. But after picking up some anglicised vowel sounds and valuable London-based experience, the Streamtime Business Development Manager now calls the sunny capital of the tech universe home.

As the US based representative of Kiwi company Streamtime, Kate has been on the ground in San Francisco for a year and a half now. The decision to join the Kiwi Landing Pad was a no brainer for the company who were keen to take advantage of the time saving resources and network in place. They especially valued the community aspect of the Landing Pad, given that Kate was to be heading up Streamtime’s US presence as their first employee Stateside. Hello real live colleagues!

Now with an office location in the heart of SOMA, just blocks away from where many of San Francisco’s creative agencies base themselves, Kate has been able to help Streamtime establish a presence and reputation on the ground. And it’s the reputation in particular that they’re focusing on. As Kate pointed out “It’s an interesting market to focus on [creative agencies], in that they know all of the marketing tricks. So we like to use word of mouth, social, and just being nice people to get our brand out there.”

For those advertising and design agencies that have become part of Streamtime’s growing client base, the product offers a way to streamline the way they manage their time and money. “But we go a lot further”, says Kate. “Streamtime takes care of everything from tracking new business to quoting, then the actual job management, scheduling and time capacity planning, through to invoicing and reporting.” It’s already an essential tool for many agencies in NZ, Australia, UK and a number of other places around the globe. Now American creative agencies are starting to discover its headache reducing powers.

Streamtime’s US growth since arriving at the Landing Pad a year and a half ago has been an intentional slow burn. They’re not preoccupied with instantly becoming a Fortune 500 company and building a campus in Palo Alto, instead they are focusing on building “a great culture and a great company with great people”. And although Kate had experience working for Streamtime previously in London, doing business in San Francisco has meant a slightly different way of operating. Kate’s advice to Kiwi companies when calling American customers? “Be concise, on the ball. Just get to the point and don’t waste their time.” Oh, and go easy on the small talk, the word is that it doesn’t go down as well here as it does in NZ and the UK.

The post KLP Resident Profile: Streamtime appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Every year Vaughan Rowsell sets himself a crazy challenge. By the end of 2013 he’s aiming to have run a total of 1000 kilometers. And if that sounds tough, last year he gave up alcohol. So, what does he get up to when he’s not out breaking personal records? As the CEO and Founder of Vend, you’ll find him shaking up the retail operating system space.

Having launched just over two years ago, Vend is a thriving Kiwi business growing a loyal fanbase all over the retail world. Now in over 100 countries with 27,000 customers from New Zealand to Brazil, their cloud based retail operating system is converting everyday retailers into Venders.

In particular, they’ve found a niche with cafes and fashion and homeware boutiques. Venders are typically young and progressive retailers, where the owner is very involved in the business. Their customers love the ease of use and the level of control that Vend gives them. And because it’s all online, they can integrate with other programs like Xero (cloud based accounting software) to seamlessly manage their point of sale.

Vend has a number of business partners and customers in the San Francisco Bay Area, so when Vaughan and his team members are in at the Kiwi Landing Pad they are kept busy with meetings and business development up and down the Valley. They’ve found the business world here in the U.S. extremely open to new ways of working. Vend may be a relatively young company, but they’ve already met with top executives at Silicon Valley based business partners Google and Pay Pal. Conversely, in New Zealand they would struggle to set up the same level of meeting at Telecom.

With the opportunities in San Francisco and Silicon Valley so great, Vend was one of the Kiwi Landing Pad’s first tenants a year and a half ago. Vend’s transition into the U.S. market was eased by the resources and start-up networks available to them at the Kiwi Landing Pad. Meaning they could jump off the plane, and get straight into those Silicon Valley boardrooms.

What’s next for Vend? “Growing and growing and growing” is how Vaughan describes their outlook for 2013. They’re continuing to develop their product in exciting ways as they disrupt the retail space. Vend’s aspirations are well within sight. “Our goal for 2013 is really to establish Vend as the retail platform for small business, and we’re well on the track for that.”

The post KLP Resident Profile : Vend appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Working from a corner of the Kiwi Landing Pad’s new office space on Clara Street, Mako Networks’ San Francisco team of Simon Gamble, Kevin Ptak and Matthew Madden, has used its residency to springboard the sales efforts of the international company, plunging headfirst into the American market.

From its beginning in New Zealand, Mako Networks has become a growing force in network management, with offices in London, Auckland, and now here in San Francisco.

North American President Simon Gamble touched down at San Francisco’s Kiwi Landing Pad in March 2012. Just under a year later, Mako’s U.S. team has grown to include Global Communications Manager Kevin Ptak, Business Development Manager Matt Madden, and a further three team members in Nashville, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

But Mako’s transition over to the U.S. didn’t just start when Simon landed at SFO. He explained that the move into the U.S. market was something that was built into the company’s DNA:

Once in San Francisco, the team’s acclimatization was accelerated with help of the Kiwi Landing Pad’s community and resources. Simon reiterated the importance of those contacts in order to smooth the company’s transition. “You can talk with people who’ve come here from NZ who can tell you everything from how to open up a bank account, to shortcutting the differences between living and working here in the U.S. Those things can take you months or sometimes years to work out”.

The move over here has meant that Mako Networks is now establishing itself as an innovative player in the largest transaction market in the world. That’s especially relevant, given the benefits that the Mako Networks System offers to multi-location merchants. Mako is the only network management system that can connect customers directly to the Internet that also has a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification. That means they can ensure merchants that accept credit cards meet all the network security requirements set by the credit card companies. This PCI compliance is becoming more and more essential for businesses, with the risk of liability for card fraud becoming too great to ignore. As Global Communications Manager Kevin Ptak pointed out “The average cost of a card data breach is about  $2.6 million, which is enough to sink a lot of businesses.”

Interest in the Mako Networks System has steadily grown since its arrival in the States. If anything, the team has been surprised at just how open local executives are to trying new ideas and solutions for their businesses. Kevin explained “Most US executives are willing to implement innovative technology, and I think that we’ve found it surprisingly easy at times to get through to people, set up relatively high level meetings, and make introductions. In San Francisco people are interested in new technologies and new ideas, and I think that’s something unique amongst the global market.”

Opportunities abound, North American President Simon Gamble is excited by the growth potential here in San Francisco—not just for Mako, but for other Kiwi tech companies as well.

Already, Mako Networks’ experience can offer valuable insights for Kiwi companies thinking about making the move into the U.S. market. Mako’s Kevin Ptak, a US native, offers an unbiased perspective having worked with Mako on both sides of the Pacific. He encourages more Kiwi tech companies to take advantage of the current global interest in NZ: “New Zealand has had a great year in terms of getting recognized globally. But I’d like to see the technology sector leverage brand New Zealand more in places like the US.”

The post KLP Resident Profile : Mako Networks appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Got workers out in the field? Time to get acquainted with Auckland based start-up, vWorkApp. We caught up with their ‘Team USA’, Account Executive Daniel Micaletti who has been representing the Kiwi company for a year and a half now at the KLP offices in San Francisco.

Daniel Micaletti: Account Executive
Top three apps: Lyft, Any.do and Ptch
Coffee fix near the KLP office: Elite Audio
Favourite SF Nabe: Haight Ashbury
Tech to watch in 2013: HTML5 Apps and an HTML5 App Marketplace

Tell us a little about how vWorkApp works:

Using a web-based client, our customers are able to see where field workers are, get all their jobs and data, then send it out to their employees’ smartphone or tablet. Workers can instantly see where they need to go and what tasks that need to be performed. They can also collect data and communicate back and forth with the office in real time.

Can you name a few companies that use your product?

One that poses a huge opportunity for us is Exxon Mobil. Their workers out at the refineries are using vWorkApp to monitor job progress and communicate back with the office. And in the Southern Hemisphere, Toll logistics is a big one.

You’re a US native brought onboard to represent vWorkApp in the States, what is your role over here?

I’m here to primarily look after sales and channel development. We’ve taken a different approach in the US, in that we’re not focusing on direct sales. For me to just jump into the trucking, logistics, or taxi industries, would take a huge amount of time to build and gain contacts. So we’ve chosen to go through channels of people who already have those industry contacts and knowledge.

How does vWorkApp benefit from having you here at the Kiwi Landing Pad in San Francisco?

It gives vWorkApp a voice in the United States. Just having someone here available to reach out to a customer and have face-to-face contact is really important. I’m able to make sure that the channels are developing properly, that the sales pipeline is being built up, and that the people who are selling through the channels are selling properly. It’s also good to have an ear to the ground where there’s so much buzz around technology.

How have things changed for vWorkApp since arriving in the States?

When we started out we assumed that we could be the complete dispatch and scheduling solution for our customers, but after some feedback we learned that our customers wanted the CRM, invoicing and inventory on top of what we offerred. We’ve since integrated with different software like Salesforce, Square, and others, so that we can now offer that complete solution our customers are looking for.

To read the full interview and learn more about vWorkApp, go to their page.

The post KLP Resident Profile : vWorkApp appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Rick’s story began when he left NZ about 25 years ago, after working in a number of tech companies in New Zealand and the UK.

APTARE started out as a professional services company that provided services to a number of high profile companies.  With the advent of cloud services, Rick pivoted APTARE into a software company that helps enterprises effectively manage their storage resources.  APTARE now has over 1,000 global enterprise customers who rely on APTARE for all aspects of management of storage in their data centers.

He has some great advice for Kiwi entrepreneurs, and he likes to break through some of the myths and stories that have long pervaded the Silicon Valley ecosystem, especially around funding.

Don’t assume that you need funding

• Can you fund it yourself? Especially if your technology is not capital intensive and software based
• Why do you need outside funding or do you just think you have to have it?
• Keep costs down by utilizing your core competencies in house.

Attack a disruptive market by using a completely different approach

• Look to hire people with different skill sets that can solve problems in a different way. For example APTARE didn’t hire networking engineers, as they would have built and designed a product similar to the tools that they are used to using.
• Look for trends that could transform the modus operandi within your industry.

Getting your first customers

• Grass roots sales – selling one by one, jumping on the phone and cold calling contacts, participating in blogs and discussions and building trust. Start with the IT System Administrators and work upwards to the CIO.
• Distribution – what communities can you leverage?
  • OEM partnerships – where does it make sense to add your product to another companies product list. Bad OEM deals can kill your company so be selective and always be prepared to walk away from grievous OEM constructs, especially with the big guys.
  • Channel – Focus on industry trends and the channel partners that are moving with these trends.  At APTARE we have been very successful with large service providers that manage the cloud infrastructures of global corporations.

Bottom line – look past the tech publications, focus on the market you are targeting, and create a strategy based on that which you can execute on.

The post Rick Clark – debunking Silicon Valley funding myths appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Guest Post by journalist and entrepreneur Paul Stenhouse.

Although it’s nice being home in New Zealand, I certainly miss the US tech scene. If you’re building a tech business and have the chance to hang out at Kiwi Landing Pad – I’d say do it! The chance to mingle with some big names in the industry and to follow the progress of products just starting out is hugely exciting.

Although the Kiwi Landing Pad isn’t in New York –  this whole idea of technology meetups and building a “scene”, stem from San Francisco. I had stopped into SF for a week to visit Kiwi Landing Pad and spend some time in the SF tech scene. I left New Zealand a year ago to spend the year in New York. My original plan was to work in journalism but I instead found myself working, living and breathing technology. After a brief stint working at Apple’s global flagship store on Fifth Avenue, I landed a job as the marketing coordinator for Peer39.

Peer39 provides data about webpages to help get better performance from real-time bidding based advertising campaigns. Just a few months after I started we were acquired by Digital Generation Fast Channel (DG) and joined MediaMind in the online division. That change from a startup to working for a publicly listed multi-national was immense. Navigating the corporate structure was initially a challenge but the level of resource I had access to was awesome. Plus I quickly had more marketing responsibility thanks to my boss scoring a VP job elsewhere.

At the same time I was very aware of the exciting opportunities on offer in New York so I tried to take full advantage. I don’t think I quite realized just how many there were though. From monthly product pitches at New York Tech Meetup (NYTM), fireside founder chats at PandoMonthly, short courses via Skill Share to the countless parties and events listed on meetup.com. At first, it’s a bit awkward going to these events solo, but so many other people are doing exactly the same thing. They’re there because they love technology, meeting people and finding out about what’s happening in the city.

It’s amazingly open and people are genuinely interested in finding out about what others are doing and ways to help them. That might be connecting them to a resource, introducing them to a friend with the right skills or even teaming up to build a product. People also LOVE talking tech and channeling their inner geekiness. A friend, who I first met at one of these events, works as an event coordinator at The Lean Startup Machine. We’d happily discuss the finer points of the LS philosophy over a beer in the early hours of the morning.

One of the highlights of my year was doing a three-week course via Skill Share about Business Development. It had some great takeaways I could use in my everyday life, gave me an insight into the job and also confirmed what I had always thought – my communications degree is super versatile in today’s tech world! Biz Dev is now a position I’d like to pursue at some point.

Meeting so many entrepreneurs working hard to build a business prompted me to climb into the game too. 2013 sure should be an interesting year!

The post My year immersed in New York’s tech scene appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Kiwi Landing Pad was pleased to sponsor the event with three prizes of complimentary time at Kiwi Landing Pad in San Francisco. The winners;

• Outpost Central: Real-time water monitoring system.
• EcoFibre: Carbon fibre alternative manufactured from flax.
• Klickex: Low-cost foreign exchange service.

Congratulations to the winners and we look forward to seeing you in San Francisco some time in 2013 !

GOAP, lead by high profile investor and founder of 500 startups Dave McClure brings together investors and industry commentators from Silicon Valley to travel to countries around the world, meeting with entrepreneurs and trying to better understand the challenges and opportunities that exist.

The event was a fantastic opportunity for Kiwi startups to test their business ideas with people who spend their time evaluating hundred’s of pitches and business plans in the heart of entrepreneurialism – San Francisco Bay Area.

To watch video of the pitches plus interviews with the Geeks, head to Icehouse’s You Tube channel here.

Press round- up of the Geeks trip;

New Zealand Herald – Geeks on a Plane find vibrant entrepreneur environment here

Techcunch interview with Sir Ray Avery – You’ve got 30,000 days to live.. Reverse engineer your life to make them count 

Pop17 - New Zealand the new source of technology and innovation

Techcrunch – Punching above their weight: opportunity and challenges for kiwi start ups

Idealog – Geeks on a Plane help kiwis take off to San Francisco

Radio NZ – Geeks on a Plane

The post Landing the Rocket-eers appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Guest Post by Ryan Johnson.

Just last week I went to the SoMa district of San Francisco to check out Kiwi Landing Pad (KLP), which is situated between startup giants Twitter and Square. As I was talking with Catherine Robinson, director of KLP, I reflected on how much my wife Vicki and I have accomplished in our first month in San Francisco. We moved to San Francisco from Wellington in November to advance our startup, ProFellow.com. It’s incredible how far we’ve come – figuratively and literally!

ProFellow is dedicated to helping people find and win professional and academic fellowships. Since stepping off the plane, we’ve had a stacked calendar of meetings, events and conversations with new and established industry partners as well as advisors with expertise in our industry. For example, we’ve met with 10 fellowship organizations and held a networking dinner in SoMa for alumni of prestigious fellowships. We’ve also participated in several startup events, such as the SFBay Startup Weekend, and even met the founder of the international Hackers and Founders Meetup, who was thrilled to learn more about the Wellington chapter that I help co-manage. Vicki even spoke to a large captive audience about fellowships at the American Geophysical Union conference that just took place at the Moscone Center downtown. We can see the direct impact to our new sign-ups, which have nearly doubled since moving to the U.S.

For an entrepreneur living and working in San Francisco is extraordinary because the city is teeming with founders. You meet new people every day who will both celebrate and commiserate with you on the ups and down of startup life. It’s something every entrepreneur should experience. For early stage startups, I recommend checking out KLP’s program, which helps get you to San Francisco and arms you with a plan so you can make the most out of your time here.

Also, through Geekplane, an early stage startup focused on travel exchanges for technical help, Vicki and I are offering a free two-week stay at a private room in our flat in central San Francisco in exchange for some added features to our website. Email me (ryan[at]profellow.com) to learn more!

Ryan Johnson, Cofounder of ProFellow.com

Twitter: @rjohnson008

Website: http://www.profellow.com

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rjohnson008

The post Ryan’s San Francisco Offer: rent for code appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

When you mention the name Silicon Valley, for a lot of people it conjures up images of tech wizardry, flashy multi story high rises – some sort of hi tech utopia. And it is a tech utopia, well sorta. For a lot of New Zealanders, landing at SFO, jumping on Highway 101 and heading south to Silicon Valley, can feel like a bit of a disappointment. There is no “Welcome to Silicon Valley” road sign or the ubiquitous visitors centre full of t-shirts and coasters. Silicon Valley is home to some of the worlds largest and most influential tech companies and it is enormous – 1500 square miles of companies, housing, test facilities, venture capitalists, accelerators and strip malls.

Leaving San Francisco we jumped on the 101 and headed south to Facebook. We parked up at the new Menlo Park mega-campus to say hi to Wellingtonian Andrew Pope, one of the talented engineers based there. Andrew works on ensuring that Facebook’s 1billion+ user base has complete and timely access to their FB page updates. The campus culture reflects its unique Hacker Way approach, and the buildings and outdoor spaces reference the creative and open environment they have embraced. It was no surprise that we saw Mark Zuckerberg on campus. What better way to launch our KLP Facebook page than to grab a bite of lunch with Andrew and to write on Facebook’s own real-life wall. And lunch?  Mmm delicious Portuguese food cooked in one of Facebook’s staff cafeterias. We can confirm that they do look after their employees’ stomachs rather well.

Back in the car and off to our next stop, Palo Alto. Home to Stanford University and 165 University Avenue, which is perhaps the most famous address in startup lore. Could there be something magical in the vending machine water?

Driving past more manicured driveways to the next city, Mountain View. Famously home to another of the tech world’s giants, Google. Its headquarters are set out in a huge sprawling campus where modus potare are a fleet of very colorful Google bikes. Don’t try to trespass, they know where you live, what your house looks like, and which brand of kitchen blender you’re contemplating purchasing. Best to move on.

Some more miles on the freeway brings us to our last stop, One Infinite Loop, Cupertino (tech people are crazy about infinite loops…). Here we are taking a look at the design forward powerhouse, Apple. Their headquarters look, well, much the same as the other sprawling campuses we’d seen all over the valley. Of course, you can’t judge a Macbook by the cover, and we all know the inside is where the magic happens. There is a gift shop where you can hand over some dollars in exchange for novelty t-shirts and pens made by the Apple gods.

Well,120 miles and we are heading back to San Francisco.  If you are thinking of checking out Silicon Valley or you are making appointments to visit companies in Silicon Valley, make sure you allow plenty of time between meetings and seriously consider driving. The Cal-Train from San Francisco is good, but you will still need to criss cross the valley to head to your destinations. There are few places that are walking distance to anything.

There’s no denying that the sun drenched peninsula has fostered a tech industry now unrivaled anywhere else in the world. The big guys are all here, just don’t expect them to invite you in for a cup of tea. Unless of course you know a Kiwi that works at one of them, then you could be in luck. Thanks Andrew!

KLP’s Facebook page is now up and running. Like Us on Facebook to keep tabs with all the latest community happenings.

The post A Silicon Valley Road Trip – First Stop Facebook appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Designers and Geeks is a group offering a continuous roster of events in and around San Francisco for both developers and designers, bringing the two parties together to talk and share ideas.

It’s a great premise at a time when design is working hand in hand with technology, becoming more and more an integral part the in development of any tech product.

With that in mind, Kiwi Landing Pad chose a representative from each camp to attend their latest event, Typography Matters. Representing on the Design side was Rachel Jamieson, a copywriter and advertising creative by trade, while over in the Geek corner, Software Engineer Mark Weir grabbed the reigns.

KLP didn’t have to travel far, the event was held on the top floor of the Yelp offices, just a hop and a skip from the Kiwi Landing Pad over on Mission and 3rd. We arrived to a fantastic space on the 10^th floor with a teaming mass of people, most in their 20s and 30s, most working in tech, and all interested in learning more about Typography. Great!

After a short mingle with eats and drinks, we found a chair and settled in to hear Carolina De Bartolo speak. She’s something of a type expert, having just published a new book (and accompanying app) on the topic titled Explorations in Typography.

Carolina took us through the fundamentals, from serif vs. sans serif, to font weights, to examples of what not to do under any circumstance. It was a brief but thorough introduction, probably more aimed at the developers, as most of the designers would have covered this stuff in further detail.

She explained how while often overlooked as unimportant in the online development process, typography makes a huge difference to how users experience your product. Just as in design, if it’s pleasing to the eye, it’s more of a pleasure to use. And that doesn’t mean trying to make it pretty. It should be useable, useful and desirable. All of these three principles, with varied weighting on each, depending on the project will equal a font that is right for the job. For those interested, you can see a version of her presentation on slide share here.

After Carolina’s presentation, the Designers and Geeks representative opened up the floor to Shout Outs. This is a fantastic segment for those wanting to leverage the talents in the room for networking purposes. Anyone is invited to come up and say their two cents to the audience. There were job offers, invitations to more events, and short product pitches.

So after an informative night, KLP reflected on who had gotten the most out of it. Mark (team Geeks) found the event extremely interesting and informative, not having been exposed to much typography talk previously. He also got a free Yelp bottle opener key ring, which he was pretty happy with. While Rachel (team Designers) found it more of a nice recap of type basics coming from a respected expert in the field, and a great environment to hear what’s going on in the local tech scene.

All in all a success, see you at the next Designers and Geeks event!

Rachel Jamieson

Rachel is a Copywriter and Advertising Creative with a background working for international ad agencies. She is newly relocated to San Francisco.

Portfolio: cargocollective.com/applecapplez

Contact: rach.jamieson@gmail.com

The post Designers and Geeks event : Typography Matters appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.

Michael and Jeremy won the BNZ Start-Up Alley prize at Webstock which gave them a month at KLP plus money for most of their expenses. They were impressed at just how focussed San Francisco is on technology – and it really is a wholly immersive experience. Standing on Harrison St, tech billboards are visible in every direction. Main stream network channels like NBC Bay Area cover all the latest technology news, there is an app for almost anything you can think of. You don’t order a taxi – you Uber it. Feel like some truffle fries – then Get it Now. Need that “thing” done now – Task Rabbit.

Coffee at The Creamery or SightGlass Coffee is an immediate introduction to how entrepreneurs  venture capitalists, consumers and job seekers keep this community an active and exciting environment. Both Michael and Jeremy commented that they have very general skill sets, primarily web design. They were blown away at how specialised people’s skill sets are here. Most nights Michael and Jeremy headed out to events like Airbnb Meetups where they meet with other entrepreneurs and listened to inspiring stories at Airbnb Fireside Chats.

Read more about their experience at KLP and how winning the BNZ Start-Up Alley prize at Webstock will accelerate Go Vocab here.

To hear more about their experience, watch this video.  

The post “This city is so focussed on tech” – GoVocab appeared first on Kiwi Landing Pad.